Ontario ‘mini budget’ contains little to help with affordability, nothing new for health care

The Ford government tabled its fall economic statement, also known as its “mini budget” on Monday, and beyond the previously announced extension of the gas tax cut, it contains little to help struggling Ontarians who have seen prices surge at the grocery store and with housing costs that have quickly accelerated.

Instead, the government is looking to stash some cash away for a rainy day in the midst of what it describes as “an elevated degree of economic uncertainty.”

However, the mini budget does contain some tax relief for small business, and new measures that would allow a person receiving Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments to keep more of the money they earn. It also contains a revised fiscal update.

Fiscal outlook

The government is now projecting a $12.9-billion deficit in 2022-23, nearly $7-billion lower than the outlook published in the 2022 budget. This is owing to higher than expected revenues coming into government coffers. Over the medium term, the government projects declining deficits of $8.1 billion in 2023-24 and $0.7 billion in 2024-25.

There remains a lot of unspent money on the government’s books — currently a $3.5-billion contingency fund.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the government is “faced with the prospect of challenging economic times ahead, we need to be ready for anything.”

The government said the $2-billion budget surplus that was on the books for the last fiscal year was all spent on debt reduction.

Ontario’s real GDP is projected to rise 2.6 per cent in 2022, 0.5 per cent in 2023, 1.6 per cent in 2024 and 2.1 per cent in 2025.

Ontario Disability Support Program

The government is making changes that would allow a person with a disability on ODSP to keep more of the money they earn by increasing the monthly earnings exemption from $200 to $1,000 per month.

This would allow the approximately 25,000 individuals currently in the workforce to keep more of their earnings and “could encourage as many as 25,000 more to participate in the workforce.”

Small business tax

The government says it wants to provide Ontario’s small businesses with $185-million in income tax relief over the next three years, benefiting about 5,500 small businesses through the proposed extension of the phase-out of the small business tax rate.

Health care

The mini budget doesn’t contain any new money for health-care. The government reiterates it’s spending $40 billion over 10 years on hospital infrastructure.

Affordability crisis

Beyond the extension to the gas tax cut announced Sunday, there is nothing new to help Ontarians struggling with the rising cost of living.

Instead the government points to prior affordability initiatives like the continued raising of the minimum wage, the elimination of licence plate stickers, and the direct cash payments to parents.

Help for seniors

The mini budget also has a measure that would double the Guaranteed Annual Income System payment for low-income seniors for one year, beginning in January. That would increase the maximum payment for single seniors to $166 per month, and $332 per month for couples.